John Legend Talks Landing a Role in La La Land

ABC/Matt BrownNominations for the 89th Oscars will be announced Tuesday morning and the critically acclaimed movie La La Land is likely to be a major contender in several categories.

John Legend, who portrays a jazz musician named Keith in the movie, says that he initially wasn’t sure what his role was going to be.

“It was weird ’cause when we first met, [director Damien Chazelle] didn’t really tell me he wanted me to play the character,” John says.

“He was seeing if I wanted to get involved as a songwriter and contribute music to it. I think he was waiting a little bit to see if I liked the script and then he asked me if I wanted to do the character.”

The “All of Me” superstar also talks about the extraordinary talent and preparation witnessed from his famous co-stars: Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

“I didn’t work very much with Emma. I love her and I’m a big fan of her and she’s so brilliant in this movie… I worked a lot with Ryan and Ryan was really so good. He was so prepared,” recalls John.

“He had to learn how to play piano and he had to play probably a little bit before, but he had to learn how to play a virtuoso. He spent a lot of time just getting ready for that and they had a lot of singing and dancing to do. I was just so impressed with how prepared they were.”